Elisabeth, Hannah, Caroline and Seamus flashed their VIP tickets at the
guards and they were ushered into the Wasps' rec. room.
"So, how did you like the game?"
"It was great, I especially liked the part where you guys won." Elisabeth grinned at her dad.
Harry put his arm around Elisabeth's shoulder. "Well, let's be going, Svenson, you coming along?"
"Well, I don't know...."
"Of course you are. Tell your parents that they would rather get to know Paris than take you out to dinner. It's called the Jedi Mind Trick, works every time."
"Alright."
"See? It worked."
"What?"
"It worked."
"Okay then."
"See, it worked again."
Kris convinced his mother and father that they really wanted to try the escargot at the Ville de France restaurant and they left for Harry and Elisabeth's rented suite.
Harry unlocked the door to the suite and the group of them stepped in. Harry poured champagne for everyone including the children (don't go about getting piss drunk now, you hear?) and excluding Hannah who Elisabeth thought might be a recovering alcoholic. The adults were becoming quite loud and boisterous so Elisabeth, Kris and Caroline stepped out onto the balcony.
"What are you guys planning on doing when you leave school?" This had been on Elisabeth's mind a lot lately, as she was not entirely sure what an adult witch did when they completed school.
"Quidditch, I suppose, and beyond that? I do not know."
"Caro?"
"I guess I'll teach or be a medi-witch. I don't know what else I can do. What about you Elisabeth?"
"You guys will think this is stupid but-"
"Oh come on, be a sport, we told you."
"Well I used to want to be an actress. Well I still want to be one but-" Elisabeth had no idea why she told them this, she had not even told her father of this secret aspiration.
"But what?"
"Oh I don't know. It seems very frivolous."
"Frivolous? No. Acting is a very respectable profession, my own mother was an actress in her hometown of Offerdal, until she married."
"What does your dad do?"
Kris frowned. "He works in the Foreign Ministries Department in London. Very cushy, very dull."
"My dad is a foreman for a building company. He mostly yells but he has been known to use fists. Not cushy, still dull."
"I have to pee." Caroline said suddenly.
"Okay...You want me to go guard the door for you or what?"
"Ha ha Potter, when'd you become a comedian?" Caroline slid back the heavy glass door and went in to the bathroom.
Kris turned so he faced the same way as Elisabeth, his arms folded across the balcony rail. "Are you all staying here for Christmas?"
"Yeah, we have a bunch of people staying with us. I think we'll just be going out for Christmas dinner."
"Eating out? At Christmas?"
"It's better than waiting around to see what kind of mess Seamus and Wood can make of the kitchen."
Kris laughed softly. "I wish my parents cared less about the holidays."
"Why?"
"Oh, holidays spell disaster. My mothers parents come over and they bark at her because the food isn't up to their standards and they bark at my father because he's alive and they bark at me because I don't sit up straight, because I'm blond, because I don't play Quidditch for Sweden and because I always follow my mother out of the dining room when she bursts into tears instead of sitting stiffly and hearing about my shortcomings as a person."
"I've never met my grandparents."
"No, I do not suppose you would have. Do you ever wonder what they were like?"
"No, I suppose I wondered more about my mum. Almost every kid has grandparents who have died but, well my lack of a mother is a novelty I guess."
"You turned out all the better for it." And he leaned down and kissed her. Elisabeth, who had never been kissed in quite this way, wondered if her body had enough blood to be sending so much up to her cheeks. Caroline walked back out precisely the moment Kris stood back up and Elisabeth turned and began to spout out more inane gibberish than the Queen herself.
"That was the longest pee break in documented history."
"They wanted me to sing."
"What?"
"They wanted me to sing. I'm a little teapot or something. I seriously think they've had enough champagne."
"Probably. That's the thing though, I mean can we go in there and tell them to stop drinking?"
"Well we can," Kris said intelligently, "However, whether or not they listen to us is a completely different matter."
"I suppose we could sneak in there and replace their champagne with ginger ale."
"Nuh-uh. Bad move. I put water in my dad's Bacardi once. That would have been a painful beating if my father was a violent man. I don't think I saw the outside of my room for a month after that one."
Harry leaned his head out the door. "Kris?"
"Er, yes?"
"Your sister and your parents are here. Caroline, Lis, you guys should come in too. Getting cold out here."
They went in. Kris' parents and his sister were standing there.
"Good game man, I'll see you after the holidays."
"Yeah, see you Potter, Elisabeth."
Elisabeth looked at his parents. His sister looked like she just stepped of the runway. Her hair was black and done up in a chic bob. Her skin was so white and her lips were almost blood red but it looked very good with her black and burgundy patchwork dress. Elisabeth remembered to ask Kris why he hadn't mentioned her. His father was the picture of a banker, big, dull and glowering but how his mother ended up with this man Elisabeth didn't know. Mrs Svenson was petite and bubbly, her eyes were bright and she was smiling widely in contrast to her husband's stiff grin. She shook hands with everyone and they went out the door.
"What did you call that last move?" Mrs Svenson asked Kris as they walked down the hall.
"Bad form." She could hear his sister replying.
"Oh shove it Marit."
Elisabeth shut the door and went over to her father. "What's up."
"I think those of us over the legal age are heading to a bar."
"What about Hannah?"
"She has friends in Paris, she's going to go out with them and she'll pick the rest of us up later."
"Ah, you have it all planned out have you?"
"Absolutely, are you going to be alright here with Caroline?"
"Sure." Just then someone knocked on the door. Harry leaned over and answered it.
"Look what the cat dragged in." He grinned at Draco.
"Have to be a pretty strong cat."
They chatted for a while and the adults got their act together and headed out. Elisabeth dropped onto the loveseat across from Caroline.
Someone knocked on the door again. Elisabeth went and answered it; Kris stood on the other side.
"You should never answer the door when you're home alone."
"Ha-ha. Caroline's here, what did you forget?"
"My coat." Elisabeth went and got it for him.
"Why didn't you tell me you had a sister?" She called as she rummaged through the coats in the closet.
"She's twelve years older than me, she doesn't hang around much." He shrugged and took his coat. "Merci."
"Vous êtes bienvenu."
"Au revoir!"
"Au revoir vous Suédois idiot."
"Ouch! Et tu Brutina?"
Marit leaned in the doorway and snatched Kris by the collar; she winked at Elisabeth as she dragged him out.
"Ta!"
Elisabeth shut the door.
"Do I sense something going on between you and the Swedish super star?'
"No, you do not, would you like a cinnamon bun?"
"He kissed you didn't he? Come on, 'fess up."
"Go n-ithe na gráinneoga cealgrúnacha do cheann. That's Irish for 'May the malevolent hedgehogs eat your head.'"
"You know Irish, French, English and Spanish? I'm impressed."
"Actually all I know in Irish are curses."
"That's all you need to know in Irish, really, in Scottish too. Now, why do I have the feeling we're evading the subject?"
"What subject?" Elisabeth asked, trying to evade it.
"The boy-wonder kissed you, admit it."
"No."
"No? You won't admit it?" she dropped her voice an octave. "Ve haff vays to make you talk."
"Fine. He kissed me. Big deal, no fireworks, let's all go home."
Caroline showed no intention of giving it up. She started giggling so hard he fell off the armrest where she had been perched. She climbed back up and looked at Elisabeth levelly. And promptly started laughing again. Elisabeth shook her head. "It's not that funny."
"Okay. Okay, I'm sorry." She tried to steady her voice and burst out laughing again. Elisabeth crossed her arms and frowned. Caroline took a few steadying breaths and regained control. "So what did he say?"
"Nothing. You came outside right after."
"So what are you going to do about it?"
"Nothing, what can I do? If I try to make something of it dad will break his neck."
"Hmm, I guess you're right. Hey! I know, you can sneak around and meet him and then one day out of the blue you'll get married and you can write a heart-wrenching memoir about how your love persevered despite your troubles." She put her hand over her heart and collapsed backwards onto the couch.
"Oh you romantics, you're hopeless." Elisabeth pulled one of the dozen pillows off the loveseat and threw it at Caroline, the resulting pillow fight lasted a quarter of an hour and left the girls panting and laughing on the floor.
Elisabeth dragged herself off the floor to answer the door. Hannah smiled on the other side.
"I thought you were out visiting."
"I was, but when visiting the elderly one must remember they don't have the same endurance as oneself."
"You were visiting old people?" Caroline asked, flopping onto the chaise lounge.
Hannah laughed and unwound her scarf. "Yes, and I felt particularly bad about myself walking back here because they were going to the opera and I was coming back to what I thought would be an empty hotel suite."
"I have to go to the bathroom." Caroline said suddenly, again.
"Again? You went less than an hour ago."
Caroline didn't answer.
"So who were you visiting?" Elisabeth asked, hanging Hannah's coat up for her.
"Your grandparents." Hannah said, pouring herself a cup of tea.
"I thought, I thought they were, well, I thought they were quite dead."
"Only your paternal grandparents dear." And then, as though she realised what she had said Hannah's hand flew up to cover her mouth.
"Does he know that they're here?" Elisabeth wondered how she kept her voice so calm.
"Does who know?" Hannah asked, even though she knew exactly who Elisabeth was talking about.
"My father. Does he? Tell me Hannah, I know you know."
"Yes. He knows they're here but they don't know you're here." Hannah dropped into a chair and started crying. "They have gifts for you, for every one of your Christmas' and birthdays, but he doesn't want you to go over there. He doesn't want you to see them."
"Why? Hannah, please tell me why."
"Because they have a mutual hatred that they've nursed since before Susie died."
"I need to see them."
"And you will," Hannah promised. "And you will."
"So, how did you like the game?"
"It was great, I especially liked the part where you guys won." Elisabeth grinned at her dad.
Harry put his arm around Elisabeth's shoulder. "Well, let's be going, Svenson, you coming along?"
"Well, I don't know...."
"Of course you are. Tell your parents that they would rather get to know Paris than take you out to dinner. It's called the Jedi Mind Trick, works every time."
"Alright."
"See? It worked."
"What?"
"It worked."
"Okay then."
"See, it worked again."
Kris convinced his mother and father that they really wanted to try the escargot at the Ville de France restaurant and they left for Harry and Elisabeth's rented suite.
Harry unlocked the door to the suite and the group of them stepped in. Harry poured champagne for everyone including the children (don't go about getting piss drunk now, you hear?) and excluding Hannah who Elisabeth thought might be a recovering alcoholic. The adults were becoming quite loud and boisterous so Elisabeth, Kris and Caroline stepped out onto the balcony.
"What are you guys planning on doing when you leave school?" This had been on Elisabeth's mind a lot lately, as she was not entirely sure what an adult witch did when they completed school.
"Quidditch, I suppose, and beyond that? I do not know."
"Caro?"
"I guess I'll teach or be a medi-witch. I don't know what else I can do. What about you Elisabeth?"
"You guys will think this is stupid but-"
"Oh come on, be a sport, we told you."
"Well I used to want to be an actress. Well I still want to be one but-" Elisabeth had no idea why she told them this, she had not even told her father of this secret aspiration.
"But what?"
"Oh I don't know. It seems very frivolous."
"Frivolous? No. Acting is a very respectable profession, my own mother was an actress in her hometown of Offerdal, until she married."
"What does your dad do?"
Kris frowned. "He works in the Foreign Ministries Department in London. Very cushy, very dull."
"My dad is a foreman for a building company. He mostly yells but he has been known to use fists. Not cushy, still dull."
"I have to pee." Caroline said suddenly.
"Okay...You want me to go guard the door for you or what?"
"Ha ha Potter, when'd you become a comedian?" Caroline slid back the heavy glass door and went in to the bathroom.
Kris turned so he faced the same way as Elisabeth, his arms folded across the balcony rail. "Are you all staying here for Christmas?"
"Yeah, we have a bunch of people staying with us. I think we'll just be going out for Christmas dinner."
"Eating out? At Christmas?"
"It's better than waiting around to see what kind of mess Seamus and Wood can make of the kitchen."
Kris laughed softly. "I wish my parents cared less about the holidays."
"Why?"
"Oh, holidays spell disaster. My mothers parents come over and they bark at her because the food isn't up to their standards and they bark at my father because he's alive and they bark at me because I don't sit up straight, because I'm blond, because I don't play Quidditch for Sweden and because I always follow my mother out of the dining room when she bursts into tears instead of sitting stiffly and hearing about my shortcomings as a person."
"I've never met my grandparents."
"No, I do not suppose you would have. Do you ever wonder what they were like?"
"No, I suppose I wondered more about my mum. Almost every kid has grandparents who have died but, well my lack of a mother is a novelty I guess."
"You turned out all the better for it." And he leaned down and kissed her. Elisabeth, who had never been kissed in quite this way, wondered if her body had enough blood to be sending so much up to her cheeks. Caroline walked back out precisely the moment Kris stood back up and Elisabeth turned and began to spout out more inane gibberish than the Queen herself.
"That was the longest pee break in documented history."
"They wanted me to sing."
"What?"
"They wanted me to sing. I'm a little teapot or something. I seriously think they've had enough champagne."
"Probably. That's the thing though, I mean can we go in there and tell them to stop drinking?"
"Well we can," Kris said intelligently, "However, whether or not they listen to us is a completely different matter."
"I suppose we could sneak in there and replace their champagne with ginger ale."
"Nuh-uh. Bad move. I put water in my dad's Bacardi once. That would have been a painful beating if my father was a violent man. I don't think I saw the outside of my room for a month after that one."
Harry leaned his head out the door. "Kris?"
"Er, yes?"
"Your sister and your parents are here. Caroline, Lis, you guys should come in too. Getting cold out here."
They went in. Kris' parents and his sister were standing there.
"Good game man, I'll see you after the holidays."
"Yeah, see you Potter, Elisabeth."
Elisabeth looked at his parents. His sister looked like she just stepped of the runway. Her hair was black and done up in a chic bob. Her skin was so white and her lips were almost blood red but it looked very good with her black and burgundy patchwork dress. Elisabeth remembered to ask Kris why he hadn't mentioned her. His father was the picture of a banker, big, dull and glowering but how his mother ended up with this man Elisabeth didn't know. Mrs Svenson was petite and bubbly, her eyes were bright and she was smiling widely in contrast to her husband's stiff grin. She shook hands with everyone and they went out the door.
"What did you call that last move?" Mrs Svenson asked Kris as they walked down the hall.
"Bad form." She could hear his sister replying.
"Oh shove it Marit."
Elisabeth shut the door and went over to her father. "What's up."
"I think those of us over the legal age are heading to a bar."
"What about Hannah?"
"She has friends in Paris, she's going to go out with them and she'll pick the rest of us up later."
"Ah, you have it all planned out have you?"
"Absolutely, are you going to be alright here with Caroline?"
"Sure." Just then someone knocked on the door. Harry leaned over and answered it.
"Look what the cat dragged in." He grinned at Draco.
"Have to be a pretty strong cat."
They chatted for a while and the adults got their act together and headed out. Elisabeth dropped onto the loveseat across from Caroline.
Someone knocked on the door again. Elisabeth went and answered it; Kris stood on the other side.
"You should never answer the door when you're home alone."
"Ha-ha. Caroline's here, what did you forget?"
"My coat." Elisabeth went and got it for him.
"Why didn't you tell me you had a sister?" She called as she rummaged through the coats in the closet.
"She's twelve years older than me, she doesn't hang around much." He shrugged and took his coat. "Merci."
"Vous êtes bienvenu."
"Au revoir!"
"Au revoir vous Suédois idiot."
"Ouch! Et tu Brutina?"
Marit leaned in the doorway and snatched Kris by the collar; she winked at Elisabeth as she dragged him out.
"Ta!"
Elisabeth shut the door.
"Do I sense something going on between you and the Swedish super star?'
"No, you do not, would you like a cinnamon bun?"
"He kissed you didn't he? Come on, 'fess up."
"Go n-ithe na gráinneoga cealgrúnacha do cheann. That's Irish for 'May the malevolent hedgehogs eat your head.'"
"You know Irish, French, English and Spanish? I'm impressed."
"Actually all I know in Irish are curses."
"That's all you need to know in Irish, really, in Scottish too. Now, why do I have the feeling we're evading the subject?"
"What subject?" Elisabeth asked, trying to evade it.
"The boy-wonder kissed you, admit it."
"No."
"No? You won't admit it?" she dropped her voice an octave. "Ve haff vays to make you talk."
"Fine. He kissed me. Big deal, no fireworks, let's all go home."
Caroline showed no intention of giving it up. She started giggling so hard he fell off the armrest where she had been perched. She climbed back up and looked at Elisabeth levelly. And promptly started laughing again. Elisabeth shook her head. "It's not that funny."
"Okay. Okay, I'm sorry." She tried to steady her voice and burst out laughing again. Elisabeth crossed her arms and frowned. Caroline took a few steadying breaths and regained control. "So what did he say?"
"Nothing. You came outside right after."
"So what are you going to do about it?"
"Nothing, what can I do? If I try to make something of it dad will break his neck."
"Hmm, I guess you're right. Hey! I know, you can sneak around and meet him and then one day out of the blue you'll get married and you can write a heart-wrenching memoir about how your love persevered despite your troubles." She put her hand over her heart and collapsed backwards onto the couch.
"Oh you romantics, you're hopeless." Elisabeth pulled one of the dozen pillows off the loveseat and threw it at Caroline, the resulting pillow fight lasted a quarter of an hour and left the girls panting and laughing on the floor.
Elisabeth dragged herself off the floor to answer the door. Hannah smiled on the other side.
"I thought you were out visiting."
"I was, but when visiting the elderly one must remember they don't have the same endurance as oneself."
"You were visiting old people?" Caroline asked, flopping onto the chaise lounge.
Hannah laughed and unwound her scarf. "Yes, and I felt particularly bad about myself walking back here because they were going to the opera and I was coming back to what I thought would be an empty hotel suite."
"I have to go to the bathroom." Caroline said suddenly, again.
"Again? You went less than an hour ago."
Caroline didn't answer.
"So who were you visiting?" Elisabeth asked, hanging Hannah's coat up for her.
"Your grandparents." Hannah said, pouring herself a cup of tea.
"I thought, I thought they were, well, I thought they were quite dead."
"Only your paternal grandparents dear." And then, as though she realised what she had said Hannah's hand flew up to cover her mouth.
"Does he know that they're here?" Elisabeth wondered how she kept her voice so calm.
"Does who know?" Hannah asked, even though she knew exactly who Elisabeth was talking about.
"My father. Does he? Tell me Hannah, I know you know."
"Yes. He knows they're here but they don't know you're here." Hannah dropped into a chair and started crying. "They have gifts for you, for every one of your Christmas' and birthdays, but he doesn't want you to go over there. He doesn't want you to see them."
"Why? Hannah, please tell me why."
"Because they have a mutual hatred that they've nursed since before Susie died."
"I need to see them."
"And you will," Hannah promised. "And you will."